I went to see Yes, Prime Minister at the theatre yesterday. It was quite weird that I left the house not long before lunch and got back before Doctor Who, yet in that time had been to London and seen a play.

We managed to find the theatre fairly easily, despite it being in Shaftesbury Avenue, which is impossible to navigate. And our conversation on the train going like this:

Me: Where are we going?
My sister: Hammersmith Apollo
Me: So why does it say the nearest tube is Picadilly Circus?

The stairs up to the balcony had walls and a floor that looked like you'd get in a toilet. Then the balcony itself was dark and had uneven stairs. Either of those is quite bad for me never mind both... Fortunately there were lots of handrails. When we sat down the top of the seats of the people in front of us were around our feet and there was a rail in our eyeline to the stage. And when you sat on the seats they didn't go down all the way.

Despite all that it was good and funny. It was a lot like an episode, only longer, with different actors (all of whom had either been in The Bill, Doctor Who or Midsomer Murders). It was updated, though. There was a woman in it! And Blackberries and a flatscreen TV.

Some of the jokes were a lot like in the series - Hacker asks Humphrey to give him a straight answer of yes or no, for example. Humphrey had a couple of very long sentences, which he got a round of applause for.

I don't think it really got going until the second scene, but it was funny and definitely worth seeing.

I keep feeling like I haven't written in here much because I've just been so busy. So, an update, with headings in place of LJ-cuts, because on WP once you cut you can't come back (not without a plugin anyway). Read more...

I went to the theatre in London today to see The Pocket Orchestra. It's by Graeme Garden, of I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue fame and I pretty much didn't know anything else about it before I went, except that it was something to do with music.

It turned out to be really good - and everyone was saying so afterwards. It was funny, of course, and it was sort of about the (possibly apocryphal) lives of the great composers. There were six actors who variously played the composers and people related to them - or screaming fangirls in a couple of cases. They also played a lot of their music, which was really impressive. One girl, at one point, was playing Brahms on the electric piano while holding a conversation with Schumann. They all walked around playing as well, which was really impressive for the one who was a cellist!

Sylvester McCoy was dressed up almost clown-like. He basically narrated it, occasionally played a composer and occasionally played an instrument (well, the cymbals very enthusiastically, and the spoons, mostly on the audience). And he heckled people.

I was sat at the front - and there wasn't a stage just an area where they performed, so I definitely had a good view, and a fair bit of attention from Sylvester McCoy, probably because I was also on my own and look younger than I am.

During the interval one of the kids there wanted to have a go on the keyboard, so the main actor helped it, and revealed the secret of the beginning of the Eastenders theme tune they were using.

It was funny, insane and brilliant. I'm just not quite sure what to believe now! It's on until 20th May, and when I went it was only half full, so if you get the chance, definitely go.